Amazonia Expeditions... a sad goodbye

Departure day..

I am not ready to let go of this glorious adventure yet, so Gerlo has agreed to a very early morning canoe ride up the main river before breakfast.  The air is fresh and the sun hasn't yet reached it daytime scorch, although I can feel it coming.. The waters are wider here, calm and dark, leaving the canoe strokes rippling as we paddle along.   The birds are vocal and I am using binoculars to try and find them in the in the vegetation along the river.  

Enjoyed my final royal breakfast, and at the last minute possible boarded the speedboat for the return ride to iquitos. Gerlo was with me, but the plan was for him to hop boats mid journey for a meet up with a new group headed to the lodge.  We were chatting and saying comfortable goodbyes as the two boats came along side.  Change of plans it seems as their plane is delayed, and so he came back with me to Iquitos.

I have time to spare before my flight to Lima, so we head out for a short historical tour of city.  A stroll down the sidewalk along the river is accompanied by mototaxi serenade.  We take a rickshaw to get ice cream and  tour a sad little city museum.  There is poverty evident at every .  every turn.  We end our walkabout back to the company headquarters, gerlo meeting up with people he knew along the way.  It was fun.   Hot, humid and have managed to collect more mosquito bites in a couple of hours in the city than I did during 7 full days in the Jungle. 

Short cab ride to the airport, which is crowded and hot.  My plane is delayed and the sweat is once again beading.  I got a window seat, so I got to take one long, lingering last look as the pink river got ever smaller in the distance.  Am really, really sad to have this part of my trip end.  What an adventure the fine folks at Amazonia Expeditions provided me... wonderful from first email contact to my delivery back at the airport. 

In no time at all I find myself back at the Lima airport... where I promptly check in for my flight back to Canada.  Next up I nip into the washroom for a quick wash up and a change into fresh clothes... don't want to be too stinky on the long flight home.  Pay my departure tax, pass through security and then a wander about the shops where I spend the last of my soles in the gift shop on a couple of trinkets.  On to the Air Canada gate for my overnight flight home.

So my adventure concludes.  In the end most of my preplanned activities and travels were abandoned, but there were plenty of exceptional alternatives.  I am headed home warm, tanned and healthy...   albeit bone rack skinny.  Probably won't take long for the skinny part to change.